Turner Broadcasting

The team on Friday recalled infielder Justin Turner from Class AAA Buffalo and assigned him uni No. 2: A shirt that belonged to coaches Sandy Alomar and Gary Pettis, and manager Bobby Valentine, since 1995, when Damon Buford wore No. 2. The Mets were close to another issue of No. 2 this spring until Frank Catalanotto switched to No. 27 at the dawn of the season.

Who’s Justin Turner anyway? According to the Internet, he’s a righthanded-hitting middle infielder who, like Damon Buford, came to the Mets via Baltimore (We recalled the Damon Buford Story here earlier this year). The Mets claimed Turner on waivers in May of this year when the Orioles designated him for assignment while activating Brian Roberts. Turner, who had a cup of coffee with O’s last September wearing No. 83 (wow!), arrived in Baltimore via Cincinnati in theRamon Hernandez trade. He was a 7th round draft selection of the Reds in 2006.

As a second baseman in Buffalo, Turner was hitting .297/.342/.400 in 193 plate appearances. He was activated in favor of Nick Evans, who returns to AA Binghamton, in part because he provides better middle-infield depth with Jose Reyes unavailable for an undetermined period of time, and in part because Evans wears No. 6 and that’s what happens to those guys.